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Islamic Human Rights Commission
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27th March 2003

Media Alert: William Hague Smears Arabs and Muslims

The former Conservative leader William Hague has smeared Arabs and Muslims in an article in The Spectator entitled \’The resentments of old Europe\’ (March 8, 2003)
http://www.spectator.co.uk/article.php3?table=old§ion=current&issue=2003-03-15&id=2883 (click on link below to view entire article)

The article praises American policy, and states: \’They pursue a \’one-sided\’ policy on Israel because without it the Jews would be driven into the sea.\’ The clear implication is that Arabs and Muslims want to commit genocide and ethnic cleansing.

We urge everyone to write to William Hague via his PA at blacks@parliament.uk, and to Conservative Central Office at 32 Smith Square, London, SW1P 3HH, or email Theresa May, Party Chairman, via the party\’s website at https://www.conservatives.com/feedback.cfm
or contact their official for minorities cdykes@conservatives.com

Suggested points to raise:

1) What Hague said was false. The Israeli scholar Dr Uri Davis has stated \’there hasn\’t been a single official statement issued by the PLO making reference to throwing the Jews into the sea. It isn\’t there, and I challenge any scholar in the field, Zionist or otherwise, to produce evidence to the contrary.\'(Restoration, July/August 1991, p. 33).

Demand that William Hague publicly admit his falsehood.

2) Point out that it was always the Zionists who wanted to \’drive\’ people out – i.e. the Palestinians. The founder of Zionism, Theodore Herzl wrote about the Palestinians:
‘…they might be usefully employed in the removal of dangerous snakes and other distasteful or perilous tasks in the settlements to be developed by the Zionists…. We must expropriate gently the private property on the estates assigned to us. We will try to spirit the penniless population across the border by procuring employment for it in transit countries, while denying it employment in our own. [Diaries, Vol. 1, 1960, p. 98.]

Another Israeli scholar, Tom Segev stated that \’ \’Disappearing\’ the Arabs lay at the heart of the Zionist dream, and was also a necessary condition of its realization\’, [One Palestine, Complete: Jews and Arabs Under the British Mandate, p. 406.] The Zionists formed a \’Committee for Population Transfer\’ in the 1930s. This explains what occurred in 1948 – over 700,000 Palestinian Arabs were driven from their homes.

Demand that William Hague publicly acknowledge this.

3) William Hague is being hypocritical and racist. His article nowhere condemned the Zionists for this act of ethnic cleansing. He nowhere denounced the Israeli regime for violating UN Resolution 194 and all aspects of international law and even common decency that demand the right of the refugees to return to their homes.

Demand that William Hague publicly condemn the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians and uphold their right of return.

4) Hague has insulted all Arabs and Muslims, implying that they want to commit genocide. He has done this at a time when the Israeli regime is repeatedly murdering Palestinian civilians, destroying their homes, thieving their lands and properties, and engaging in systematic violation of the Geneva Convention and international law – all without any condemnation from him in this article.

Demand that William Hague publicly apologise to the Arab and Muslim communities.

5) Tory leader, Iain Duncan Smith, has said he wants to reach out to minorities. When one of his Shadow cabinet, Winterton, made racist comments he rebuked and fired her.

Demand that Iain Duncan Smith and the Conservative leadership publicly condemns William Hague for these comments and apologises to the Arab and Muslim communities.

For more information please contact IHRC on 020 8902 0888, email: info@ihrc.org[END]
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Islamic Human Rights Commission
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